royaldutchshellplc.com Wikipedia article December 2007 version

royaldutchshellplc.com

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royaldutchshellplc.com is a gripe site operated by 90 year old Alfred Donovan and his son John Donovan, which is critical of Royal Dutch Shell. On 11 June 2007, Ed Crooks of the Financial Times described it as “an anti-Shell website run by a father and son partnership that has been a long-running thorn in the companys side.” Due to an oversight, the management of the Royal Dutch Shell Group had not registered the dotcom name for the new company which resulted from the unification in 2005, of The “Shell” Transport and Trading Company Plc and the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company Limited. The domain name had already been registered by Alfred Donovan, who exploited a loophole which allows an online critic to legally use a dotcom domain name identical to a target company’s name or trademark. To fall within this category, the gripe site must be non-commercial, with no subscriptions and no paid advertising. To avoid being considered a cybersquatter the domain name and associated website must be active, with no attempt made to sell the domain name, especially to the company holding rights to the corresponding trademark or company name. Shell unsuccessfully attempted to obtain via WIPO proceedings, ownership of this address and two other Donovan owned domain names: royaldutchshellgroup.com and shellnews.net.[1][2][3][4]

The business relationship which operated on an international basis, floundered after Shell appointed a new National Promotions manager in 1992 to whom the Donovans promotional ideas were disclosed on a confidential basis. In 1994, the Donovans issued a Writ against Shell in respect of a follow-up Make Money promotion claiming breach of confidence and breach of contract. They also threatened to sue each of Shells 2,000 UK petrol stations. The Donovans accepted a £60,000 settlement but continued to pursue legal claims over a Shell Nintendo scratch off game and a film themed collector game called Now Showing. Shell settled both claims in October 1996. During the course of the litigation, the Donovans founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group and what may have been the worlds first “gripe” websites. Shell referred to the Donovan’s internet activity in a [1] press statement issued on 17 March 1995. An article published on 11 June 1998 by The Daily Telegraph under the headline of “Donovan’s beef with Shell on-line” reported that “Donovan is publicising his gripes on two elaborate and colourful internet websites, don-marketing.com and shell-shareholders.org”.

In June 1999, a High Court trial commenced in respect of a claim by John Donovan against Shell relating to a loyalty programme utilising smart card technology for a multi-retailer scheme by Shell. The legal costs were estimated to be over a million pounds. According to a report in The Sunday Telegraph Shell Legal Director, Richard Wiseman, denied allegations made by Donovan against Shell and said that he was misguided and had been wrongly encouraged by Shells previous payments. Donovan alleged that Shell had used an undercover agent, Christopher Phillips, in the run up to the trial. According to The Sunday Telegraph report Shells lawyers admitted that they hired Mr Phillips, but only to carry out routine credit inquiries.[5] According to an article published in February 2007 by Prospect magazine, “Shell agreed to settle out of court, paying the Donovans a sum “in the thousands” as part of a “peace treaty” stipulating that neither party speak about the matter in future”. The article quotes Donovan as alleging that Shell subsequently broke the “peace treaty”.[6]

Alfred Donovan and John Donovan are both retired from commercial activities. Their former company, Don Marketing, ceased trading several years ago. Their websites are all non-commercial; do not seek or accept donations, offer all services without charge, and carry no advertising.

Appeals to Shell shareholders, Shell employees, and the public

Royaldutchshellplc.com was described in an article published in February 2007 by Prospect magazine in the following terms: “The Donovan website has become an open wound for Shell”. It has been used to publish appeals on behalf of a number of parties who wanted to reach Shell shareholders and/or Shell employees, or the public e.g.

An appeal by the World Wildlife Fund(WWF) in relation to environmental concerns about Shell’s Sakhalin II project. Part of the WWF appeal published on the Donovan website on 2 February 2006, stated: “If you have a story you would like to tell, then please get in touch with us or Alfred Donovan in confidence, or make your views known to EBRD. This is a crucial time for influencing this project, when it is essential the real story of Sakhalin comes out.” A further appeal on behalf of the WWF was published on the Donovan website in March 2006.[7][8]

An appeal by The World Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility. The statement by the ECCR published on the Donovan website on 25 January 2006 included the following explanation and appeal: “The Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility intends to bring a shareholder resolution to Royal Dutch Shell plcs 2006 AGM. ECCR believes that Shells impacts on `frontline communities and the environment in County Mayo, Ireland, the Niger Delta, and at Sakhalin II in Russia merit urgent attention. The resolution calls for a major improvement in Shells performance in terms of community and stakeholder consultation, risk analysis, and social and environmental impact analysis. ECCR needs 100 Shell shareholders to co-sign the resolution before the end of February.”[9][10]

On 25 January 2006 an appeal by Zack Brown, an Arctic Wilderness Associate of the Public Interest Research Group. Brown stated: “Our campaign continues to push Chevron and ExxonMobil on the Arctic, but in 2006 most of our attention will focus on Royal Dutch Shell.” He went on to make the following appeal: “As a part of our effort, we are building a large pool of individual Royal Dutch Shell common stock investors. If you, or anyone you know owns Royal Dutch Shell common stock (RDS-A or RDS-B) please contact Zack Brown at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund…”[11][12]

An appeal by U.S. lawyers, Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz in September 2004 for evidence in respect of a major class action law suit brought against Shell in relation to an oil and gas reserves recategorisation.[13][14] In September 2004, Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz confirmed that they had received calls as a result of the appeal.[15] In March 2006 the litigation was given permission to proceed as a global class action against Royal Dutch Shell.[16][17] A Shell shareholder to represent all non holders of Royal Dutch Shell stock was found following an appeal published on the Donovan website on 20 January 2006.[18]

An appeal for support by Friends of the Earth in the Netherlands was posted on the royaldutchshell.com website from 20 December 2006 for a campaign entitled shelladvert.org.[19]

Royaldutchshellplc.com is also used to publish information by The National Union of Ogoni Students (NUOS) “an independent, non-profit entity that functions as the students unit of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP).” A letter from NUOS to President Olusegun Obasanjo of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was published on 17 December 2006. It demanded that the license granted Shell Oil to operate in Ogoni should be revoked. The following is an extract from the letter “the worlds’ most impoverished people inhabiting one of the world’s wealthiest span of land. This irony ridiculously fed by succeeding governments of Nigeria and Shell Oil Company is unacceptable.” [20] Shell has unsuccessfully attempted to promote a reconciliation process with the Ogoni which would allow Shell to recommence oil production in Ogoniland.[21]

Connection with Shell Sakhalin-II project

Moves by the Russian government in relation to environmental issues concerning the Royal Dutch Shell led Sakhalin-II project in eastern Russia has created an international furore, with representations made to President Putin by Prime Minister Tony Blair and many other heads of government. On 18 October 2006, the Donovan’s published an article confirming they had for some time been supplying information to the Russian government relating to Sakhalin II. Information in the form of Shell internal emails and Shell insider comments, posted on Royaldutchshellplc.com, were passed by the Donovan’s to Oleg Mitvol, the Deputy Head of Rosprirodnadzor, the Russian Environmental Agency. In November 2006, Oleg Mitvol confirmed in an interview published in This Week in Argus FSU Energy that the evidence on which a prosecution against Sakhalin Energy claiming $10 billion in damages was being mounted, was supplied by John Donovan of royaldutchshellplc.com. Mr Mitvol was quoted as saying: “Who will take Sakhalin Energy to court? I will take them. I have documents proving that the Sakhalin Energy management was aware that the company violated technical standards, but carried on trying to meet project deadlines and refused to stop work. I am confident of winning my case in Stockholm. What documents are these? Where are they from? I have email correspondence between executives in Sakhalin Energy management from 2002. I received these letters from John Donovan, owner of the anti-Shell website www.royaldutchshellplc.com.”[6] The Russian energy company Gazprom controlled by the Russian government subsequently obtained a majority holding in the Sakhalin-II project. A further report of the supply of evidence by John Donovan to Mitvol was published on 13 November 2006 by Johnson’s Russia List sourced from Interfax.

Recommended by Fortune magazine for information about Royal Dutch Shell plc

On 2 August 2006, CNNMoney.com published a feature from Fortune magazine recommending books and websites focused on the world’s top five companies, as ranked in the “Fortune Global 500”. A company website with a corresponding website critical of the companys activities was featured for each multinational. For Royal Dutch Shell, listed as number 3 in the rankings, Shell’s portal website shell.com was cited along with royaldutchshellplc.com

Financial Times says website has long been a thorn in Shells side

The article was about a leaked motivational memo in the form of an email from David Greer, the Deputy Chief Executive of Sakhalin Energy, the company in which Shell is a shareholder and former owner. The email was circulated to Sakhalin-2 staff. The article stated that “The memo was leaked to the website www.royaldutchshellplc.com, which has long been a thorn in Shells side. Shell confirmed the e-mail was genuine but was reluctant to discuss it further”. The article quoted extensively from the memo. The entire content of the leaked memo was published by the FT on the same date. The FT also conducted a separate online poll asking the question: “Is this the worst motivational memo ever?”

A keen eyed FT reader noticed that inspirational passages were appropriated from a famous speech given by the legendary U.S. General George S Patton, on 5 June 1944 on the eve of D-Day the Sixth of June. On 7 June 2007, a quarter page follow-up article was published in the Financial Times newspaper and on the FT.com website, under the headline: “Sakhalin motivational memo borrows heavily from Patton.

On 9 June 2007, The Moscow Times published a front page article under the heading: Sakhalin Pep Talk From ‘Old Blood and Guts’ The article said: Greer’s memo, which was leaked to an anti-Shell web site, Royaldutchshellplc.com, appears to show the pressure that he and his fellow managers have been under, as it talks of “the risk of becoming a team that doesn’t want to fight and lacks confidence in its own ability.” The Moscow Times article contained forthright comments by the Russian environmental watchdog, Oleg Mitvol, about the email.

On Monday 11 June 2007, the Financial Times published a further article on the subject this time headlined: Motivational memos must make their message clear. One of the opening paragraphs stated: The memo (www.ft.com/shell) is crass, poorly punctuated and most of it wasn’t even written by its author, David Greer, deputy chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin Energy Investment Company. He had lifted the words of General George S. Patton with no attribution, and clumsily adapted them to spur on his team of recalcitrant pipeline engineers.

On Friday 22 June 2007, The Moscow Times published a front page story with the headline: “Sakhalin Energy’s Greer Steps Down”. The article revealed that “A motivational e-mail written by Greer to staff working on the project, originally leaked to an anti-Shell web site, Royaldutchshellplc.com, was the subject of a front-page story in the Financial Times earlier this month.” It went on to say “David Greer, the Sakhalin Energy deputy CEO running the giant Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project, has left the company unexpectedly just weeks after a leaked e-mail he wrote revealed the pressure that managers working there were facing”. The article said that Greer had been a 27-year Shell veteran and was leaving to pursue other business interests.

A gripe site can have a profound impact on global organisations

An “Accountability in Action” newsletter published in July 2007 by the One World Trust, an independent research organisation associated with the UK legislature and the United Nations, said: “As The Royal Dutch Shell plc website shows, a gripe site can have a profound impact on global organisations”. The newsletter went on to say: “The site has not only cost Shell billions of dollars in Russia… “even Shell insiders unhappy with the company use it”. The article also said: “Royaldutchshellplc.com is just one of many examples of how the Internet makes it possible for concerned individuals to initiate discussion about global organisations, post and share information about organisational actions and their impact, and provide a common forum for affected stakeholders. At the very least, gripe sites such as this have a valuable watchdog function and remind global companies of the power of public opinion  thus forcing them to confront weaknesses in their own accountability”. Email correspondence in August 2007 between Royal Dutch Shell Plc and the owners of the website provide evidence of the unusual involvement by the website in the day-to-day functioning of the company.

Shell rattled and put on the back foot by joint Campbell/Donovan safety campaign

On 1 September 2007, The Daily Mail newspaper published an article about a Shell employee safety campaign conducted jointly by royaldutchshellplc.com and the former Group Auditor of Shell International, Mr Bill Campbell. The article headlined “Shell on backfoot as ‘gripe site’ alleges safety concerns” said: ROYAL Dutch Shell is getting rattled by a gripe site that alleges there are safety problems with its North Sea oil platforms.” The article revealed An internal Shell email admits the firm has been thrown on the back foot because of claims put forward on the Royaldutchshellplc.com website. It went on to say Campbell has emailed hundreds of MPs alleging Shell hasnt yet properly tackled health and safety failings. The article featured a number of quotes from Shell internal emails revealing a state of uncertainty at Shell about how to deal with the allegations. One stated: As it stands were on the back foot and our aim should be to develop a strategy (or options) that puts us in a more positive and secure position.

In his letter to MP’s, Campbell stated: “I am a former Group Auditor of Shell International. I am writing to you on a matter of conscience in an effort to avert the inevitability of another major accident in the North Sea“. He went on to say: “In 1999, I was appointed by Shell to lead a safety audit on the Brent Bravo platform. The audit revealed a platform management culture that basically gave a higher priority to production than the safety of Shell employees. To our astonishment we discovered that a “Touch F*** All” policy was in place. Worse still, safety records were routinely falsified and repairs bodged.” Campbell claimed in the letter that the failure to ensure that such policies were eradicated led to an avoidable accident on the platform in 2003 when two workers tragically lost their lives. Campbell expressed his expert opinion that because of a continuing failure to properly deal with safety issues a catastrophic accident is inevitable on Shell North Sea oil platforms.

In response to the allegations, a Royal Dutch Shell spokesman was quoted in the Daily Mail article as saying: Safety is Shells foremost priority at all times. Shell strongly disputes any suggestion that we would compromise safety offshore. No fatalities are acceptable. The spokesman added: Although Shell disagrees fundamentally with the factual basis and interpretation of much of the information on which the Donovans base their various allegations, the company has always refrained from commenting on specific issues raised by the Donovans and will continue to do so.

On 8 September 2007, The Daily Telegraph newspaper published an article by its Industry Editor, Russell Hotten, under the headline “Pressure on Shell over safety of platforms”. The article reported: “Royal Dutch Shell is facing a growing campaign about alleged poor safety on several North Sea oil platforms, with Britain’s biggest trade union and a former executive of the company calling on MPs and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate.” The article went on to say “Mr Campbell, who has teamed up with a website that has been highly critical of Shell, appears to be of increasing concern to the company. A recent internal email admits that the website has thrown Shell “on the back foot”. The company declined to discuss Mr Campbell but said that if anyone raised a safety issue “we take it seriously and look at it”.

On 4 September 2007, Reuters published an article by Tom Bergin headlined: “Shell loses exec on troubled Kazakh project-source”. The article said that a Royal Dutch Shell Plc executive “working on Kashagan, a project under pressure from the Kazakh government for being overbudget and behind schedule, has quit, company sources told an unofficial company Web site.” The article went on to say that “John Donovan, who runs a Web site critical of Shell and acts as a conduit for whistleblowers at the company, said Shell insiders had told him that John Stubbs, a senior project manager on Kashagan, had left the Anglo-Dutch oil major.”

Sunday Telegraph article about “Online revolutionaries”

On 9 September 2007, The Sunday Telegraph published an article by Juliette Garside under the headline: “Online revolutionaries”. The opening sentence said: “Revolutions used to happen in the streets – these days they take place online. And the targets are more often big businesses than bad governments.” The article included a section about Royaldutchshellplc.com and its owners, “Alfred Donovan, now in his 90s, and his son John.” The article went on to say: “Their site became a hub for activists and disgruntled former employees. It has been used to mobilise support for environmental campaigns by the likes of WWF, the environmental lobbying group, against drilling in the Arctic and Russia, for groups worried about Shells social impact in Ireland and Nigeria, and by the companys former group auditor Bill Campbell to raise issues about employee safety.”

Essential reading for anyone who covers Shell

On 12 September 2007, an article was published on the Prospect Magazine website by a regular contributor, Derek Brower, who is also the senior correspondent of Petroleum Economist. Under the headline Shells Colchester headache, Brower reminded readers that In Prospects February issue, I reported on John and Alfred Donovan, two men with a combined age of 150 years in a house in Colchester who have been trying relentlessly to prick holes in one of the worlds biggest companies, Shell. They seem to be succeeding. Their website has become essential reading for anyone who covers Shell and the energy sector more broadly. It gets up to 4.6m hits a month. Brewer went on to report that the Donovans have found another ruse to annoy Shell: the Data Protection Act (DPA) and that So far, the company has surrendered two large folders, including an article about them by a director, a press release about them that the men claim is defamatory, and much else. The article also said that Shell has not released under the DPA a copy of an email about them from Shells senior lawyer to the Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell, Jeroen van der Veer and was paying the law firm Simmons & Simmons to handle their DPA requests. It also reported that The company triedand failedto have their website closed down and revealed The Donovans say they have received CVs, business proposals, and even a terrorist threat sent to them: all were intended for Shell. (They kindly forwarded them on.) The last sentence in the article said: As journalists and disgruntled employees have realised, if you want to know whats up at one of the worlds biggest companiesor just want a good moan about the latest oil spillstart with www.royaldutchshellplc.com.

The Times reports Royal Dutch Shell at war with the Donovan family

On 22 September 2007, The Times newspaper reported“Since the 1990s, Royal Dutch Shell has been at war with a family who registered a website, royaldutchshellplc.com. The Donovan family, led by 90-year-old Burmaveteran Alfred, perhaps quixotically want Shell to change its management.” The article said that Shell had “failed to shut down the site” which had attracted Shell job applications and even a terrorist threat “all of which are dutifully passed on to the company.” The article went on to say “there are signs that Shell is developing a sense of humour. A recent letter from general counsel there suggests that a truly alternative solution for all those people inadvertently contacting you is for you to choose a website and e-mail address without the word Shell in it.

BBC Essex interviews John Donovan

On 11 October 2007, BBC Essex presenter Etholle Georgeinterviewed John Donovan concerning the website royaldutchshellplc.com. The interview was introduced as being “the story of a high tech David and Goliath battle of the modern age.” Etholle George asked questions about the websites Live Chat feature saying “Ive got it up on my screen at the moment there are currently 32 people who are engaged in conversation on your website absolutely fascinating ” She later asked who the people were. The overall thrust of the questioning was that John Donovan must be obsessed to devote so much time to the website.

Nikkei BP says The fate of Sakhalin 2 was changed by two British men

On 12 November 2007, leading Japanese business magazine Nikkei BP published an internet article about the Donovans and their website, royaldutchshellplc.com under the headline: “Gripe sites are becoming more powerful”. It said The fate of Sakhalin 2 was changed by two British men, described as a 90-year-old man and his son  a reference to Alfred Donovan and his son John. The author of the article, Ryo Kuroki, a Japanese novelist, said that he had recently visited them at their home in ColchesterEssex, a town located in the South East of the UK. The article revealed that Alfred had fought against the Japanese army in the Burmese front as a communications officer.

The article went on to say that in October 2005 Donovans contacted Russian PresidentVladimir Putin through the Presidents website (The site has a function to send E-mail to the president). The purpose was to provide the president with insider information on the cost overrun of Sakhalin 2 project. It also mentioned the approach made to Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of Russias environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor and the later confirmation from Mitvol in his interview with Argus Media that the Russian side used the information provided by Donovans in negotiations with project sponsors of Sakhalin-II.

On 17 December 2007, an Ethiopian newspaper, the Jimma Times, published an internet article under the headline ETHIOPIAN Employees accuse Shell of raiding retirement fund reporting that A litigation was brought against Shell by a trade union representing 90% of its Ethiopian employees. It went on to reveal that www.royaldutchshellplc.com had published an article about the story and in reference to the website said: The organization says its objective is to persuade Shell management to stand by the Shell Statement of General Business Principles pledging among other things, honesty, integrity and transparency in all of its dealings.

Insider leaks news to RoyalDutchShellplc.com of thousands of IT job cuts at Shell

On 21 December 2007, Reuters published a news story with the headline: “Shell to cut thousands of IT jobs”. The article reported that Shell is going to outsource a substantial part of its information technology operations with the intention of cutting costs “in a measure that may result in thousands of job losses”. The article said “One employee told the Shell protest website RoyalDutchShellPlc.com that 3,200 jobs could be lost, but the spokeswoman declined to confirm the numbers.” It went on to say that an internal Shell email had been supplied to the website which listed the IT outsourcing companies in final talks with Shell on taking on different aspects of the business.

According to a related article by Benoit Faucon of Dow Jones Newswires published on 24 December by CNNMoney.com, the IT job cuts could improve the credibility of Peter Voser, the Chief Financial Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, to take over as Chief Executive of the company when the current CEO, Jeroen van der Veer, retires in June 2009. A Shell spokesperson was quoted as in the article as saying; “We are in the middle of commercial conversations and expect contracts to be signed early in 2008 – at which point we will share more details.” The article went on to say “The talks were first reported on the Web site royaldutchshellplc.com, which is critical of the company. That report said thousands of jobs – among staff or contractors – could be cut as result.”

Legal action by Shell relating to website

Eight Royal Dutch Shell Group companies collectively obtained in June 2004 an Interim Injunction and Restraining Order against a Shell whistleblower, a Malaysian geologist and former Shell employee, Dr John Huong, in respect of alleged defamatory postings attributed to Dr Huong on the Donovan website. The Shell action is directed solely against Dr Huong. Further proceedings against Dr Huong were issued by the same plaintiff companies in 2006 in respect of publications on the Donovan website in 2005 and 2006. The further proceedings include a “Notice to Show Cause” relating to a “contempt of court” action potentially punishable by imprisonment. Numerous proceedings have been issued by Shell in connection with the on-going litigation. On 6 August 2007, Mr Michiel Brandjes, Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate of Royal Dutch Shell Plc kindly notified 90 year old Alfred Donovan that the Shell plaintiff companies had “on compassionate grounds” waived the right to cross examine him in relation to an affidavit he had supplied in the Dr Huong case.

Meta

OVER 265 NEWS ARTICLES AND NEARLY 40 BOOKS, ALL CITING THIS WEBSITE: SEE INFORMATION BELOW

Links to a selection from over 265 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires etc., and almost 40 books containing references to this website, or its founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus a selection of academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, all citing this website. All in date order. Click on the link at the foot of this column to see the entire 265 plus news articles, again, all in date order.
Head-cut image appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.

DISCLAIMER

This is not a Shell website, nor is it officially endorsed by or affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell.
We operate on a non-profit basis with no subscription charges, no wages, no bonuses, no company pensions and no private jets. In comparison, Royal Dutch Shell Fat Cat Boss, Ben van Beurden, received a financial package worth $30 million USD in 2014.

SHELL PRELUDE TO DISASTER

The links below are to a series of articles, many triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the pioneering Royal Dutch Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell above, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects.

SHELL ROLE IN NIGERIAN OPL 245 BRIBERY SCANDAL

Whatever fig leaves they might be trying to use to hide the truth, Shell and Eni paid over $1bn to a company called Malabu for the OPL 245 licence. Even though the payment was channelled through the Nigerian government, it was clear that Shell knew that the ultimate beneficiary was Dan Etete, the former minister of petroleum. Etete is the owner of Malabu, to whom he awarded the licence when he was Nigerian Minister of Petroleum.

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL EMPLOYEE DATA BREACH

GLOBAL NEWS COVERAGE: FEBRUARY 2010
MORE INFORMATION: Contact details for over 176,000 employees and contractors of Royal Dutch Shell reached John Donovan and some environmental and human rights groups, ostensibly from disaffected Shell staff calling for a “peaceful corporate revolution” at the company. The database, from Shell’s internal directory, contained names and telephone numbers for all the company’s work force worldwide, including some home numbers. It was supplied with a 170­ page covering note, explaining that it was being circulated by “116 concerned employees of Shell dispersed throughout the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands”, to highlight the harm done by the company’s operations in Nigeria. John Donovan brought the leak to the attention of Shell. Tests proved that the data was authentic and he destroyed the database after being informed by Mr. Richard Wiseman, the then Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, that the confidential information if publicly disclosed, could put Shell employees and contractors in real danger.

NAZI NAMED SHIP HIRED BY SHELL

The campaign waged on this website by John Donovan to persuade Edward Heerema to rename the worlds biggest ship, The Pieter Schelte - which he named after his late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, a former Officer in the German Waffen-SS - has been successful. On Friday 6 February 2015, Allseas announced that it was changing the ships name, and on 9 February announced the new name - Pioneering Spirit.

SHELL BLOG

Keis: Shell fired 5000 workers recently but kept government relations manager of Syria in Dubai without any tasks. Paid her salary and nobody know why!!!
She must have good connections somewhere!!!
Recently,she was promoted the title of government relations manager of Iran. She doesn't know anything about Iran let alone its government. BUT she got the job!!!
An obvious case of breach of so called Shell General Business Principals and nepotism!!!

regular browser: It is amazing that these "difficult choices" are all falling at the door of the lowest paid employees of Shell and yet the vastly inefficient and "fat" middle and upper level management just seems to keep on expanding. With such low activity levels due to the transition away from oil and gas, low oil price and smaller geographic focus of Shell one would have thought that these highly paid meeting organisers would face the chop rather than the people doing actual work. It is sad to say but it seems BvB has truly lost the plot after such a promising start and now tries to dig himself out of his own hubris after so many poor choices prime of which is the overpaying for BG.

Deadly Corrib Gas: Dear John,
I see you have already noted Engineers Ireland (EI) 'gong to selves' for what you rightly call 'the deadly Corrib Gas Project' (Shell to Sea remember the unnecessary death of Lars Wagner RIP, although EI appear to have wilfully forgotten it); it's not surprising you consider it odd but I'm afraid that continues to be how things are done in Ireland - incompetence gets the gong, integrity gets the boot.

All the best, from Maura Harrington, Shell to Sea.

Relieved: I was wondering what happened to the peak oil predictions of RDS and the collection of genius boffins Shell had working the problem. They have all apparently gone by the wayside, been retired, or met with some similar fate. Let's here it for Shell's crystal ball predictions by the best in the industry !!! Not.

Dutchdude: Van Beurden's announcement yesterday did not mention anything on the thousands of staff who are leaving the company this year. A small thanks would have been nice for those folks, of whom many have worked 20 to 30 years for Shell. I would recommend Shell senior leaders to have a close look who are leaving the business. I have to agree with Daniel, I don't see any powerpoint wizards leaving, just the ones with clear technical oil business competence.

Relieved: I have an interesting factoid that your readers might be interested in reading. In 1980 proven US oil reserves were at about 37 billion blls. Today, depending upon who you reference, they are somewhere between 35 billion and 240 billion bbls thanks to the oil shale boom. However, during the time period 1980 - 2016 over 110 billion bbls of oil were produced in the US from various basin, both onshore and offshore. What is my point ? My point is that we are not 'running out of oil' by any stretch of the imagination.

Shell Police Corruption Eire .: A second Irish Police Commissioner next week faces the very real possibility of dismissal because of her inability to control corruption in her force (documented daily here). She has chosen to remain stum on the demands of Shell CEO Terry Nolan to vendor to falsify a freely given statement pertaining to a criminal act in which a senior cop and Nolan played key rolls. Silly Woman?

Daniel: Its best to let go experienced technical staff. After all, its the manager with power point that add all the "value". When oil price recovers Shell is going to be very exposed with a lack of expertise. They will have both slices of bread (Upper Management & Junior Staff) but meat, very very sad.

Gold Grill: Peter Vosser must be wondering what happened to his Transition 2009 plans. Shell now has more SEG category staff (nearly 170) for 13 lines of business. This compares to just over 100 post transition 2009. The ratio of SEG to junior staff has got out of control with these highly paid executives pulling in nearly $150 million per annum surely now is the time to start pruning the top of the tree. I'm surprised Ben has let this top heavy organisation continue. I wonder who were making the decisions about which staff to let go, could it have been the SEG group?

Safety dude: @billcampbell
Sorry Bill but LTIF and TRCF are things of the past. We have moved on from those long time ago. Those were probably correct in your day but times change and we now use more meaningful indicators for both process and personal safety. These include leading indicators as well as lagging indicators. The TRCF and LTIF are still used for comparison purposes with other industry participants but they remain only a small part of performance measurement.

Relieved: When I first went to work for Shell many centuries ago ONE SHELL was the tallest building in Houston and Shell was a respected company. My,my, how things have changed. Shell's retreat to the burbs is very symbolic.

Heartbroken: @Bill Campbell. I applaud your bravery to stand up to the Shell bullies. I can't recall anyone having the principles and courage to stand up to the bullies in that disgustingly rancid place. Where are all the people that stood for something? Now staff are treated like numbers (cattle) with the constant threat of the sack hanging over them. Guantanamo C16 has even announced that it will start charging inmates to use the gym facilities. Our prison comrades in Houston have had their cells taken away from them and condemned to home incarceration. Someone mentioned core values. I fear a ban on using those words is not far away. RDS RIP

SHELL IP PIRACY

Reading between the lines in various legal documents, it seems that the allegations are that after the technology in question had been disclosed to a Shell company in the USA, the information was passed to Shell in the Netherlands in breach of confidentiality. And Royal Dutch Shell subsequently exploited the technology without payment or credit to the company holding the rights; Newton Research Partners. The inference seems to be that Twister B.V. was founded by Shell partly on trade secrets stolen from Bloom/Newton.

WEBSITE INFORMATION

DISCLAIMER: This is not a Shell website nor is it officially endorsed by or affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Originally co-founded by the late Alfred Donovan and his son John, it is now operated by John, Shell's "No.1 Enemy", aided by an expert team, with invaluable support from retired Shell senior executives and officials as guest contributors and leaked information from Shell insiders.(JOHN DONOVAN, WEBSITE OWNER)For nearly a decade, we have operated globally under the Royal Dutch Shell Plc top level domain name, dealing on Shell’s reluctant behalf with job applications, business proposals, Shell pension enquiries, shareholder enquiries, complaints, invitations to speak at conferences, an approach from the Dutch Defence Ministry and even terrorist threats. All meant for Shell. Prospect magazine has aptly described this website as being:"An open wound for Shell":WIPO proceedings by Shell to seize the domain name failed.NO SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES: All of our watchdog activities monitoring Royal Dutch Shell, including operating this website, are carried out on a non-profit basis. Any advertising revenues generated are used to recover and/or defray operational costs. We are a news aggregator and original content website. All information is available free for educational and research purposes. SHELL TACIT ENDORSEMENT: WHAT A WELL INFORMED SHELL OFFICIAL SAID ABOUT US:
"John and Alfred Donovan well known in UK/Hague. They perceive Shell played them and so have made it their mission to embarrass,belittle and criticize Shell, which they do quite well. Their website, royaldutchshellplc.com is an excellent source of group news and comment and I recommend it far above what our own group internal comms puts out."
WARNING TO SHELL EMPLOYEES: Shell Global Affairs Security "CAS") is spying on Shell employees globally trying to trace who is visiting, posting, or leaking information to this website from Shell premises. Threats, including death threats, have allegedly been made against conscience driven Shell whistleblowers supplying us with information. The worlds biggest leak of employee details as part of a claimed corporate revolution by 116 Shell employees, suggest the espionage operation, threats and draconian litigation have not been entirely successful in cutting off the supply of information to this website. The insider leaks had already cost Shell billions on the Sakhalin Energy project and the loss of SEIC Deputy Chairman, David Greer.We publish our own carefully researched articles about Shell e.g. "How Royal Dutch Shell saved Hitler and the Nazi Party".MEDIA COVERAGE: Prospect Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian, have all published major articles about us: "Rise of the Gripe Site";"Two men and a website mount vendetta against Shell' and "92-year-old's website leaves oil giant Shell-shocked”. SHELL PETROL STATION images displayed in the website header panel are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Information on copyright issues here.
John Donovan can be contacted at [email protected]

SHELL’S $500,000 WEDDING GIFT TO CORRUPT BRUNEI ROYAL FAMILY

EXTRACT FROM ASIAN JOURNAL ARTICLE IN LIST OF LINKS BELOW: "Fireworks will light up the sky for three nights. The local unit of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has donated 500,000 Brunei dollars (US$292,400; euro 243,700) for the display, and for cultural events to be hosted by popular performers from Malaysia."

BILL CAMPBELL WHISTLEBLOWER EMAIL TO MP’S

IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS:

THIS IS WHAT IT SAID:

Subject: This could be the most important whistleblower email you have ever received.

Some unfortunate Royal Dutch Shell workers have already lost their lives. More lives are at stake.

My name is Bill Campbell. I am a former Group Auditor of Shell International. I am writing to you on a matter of conscience in an effort to avert the inevitability of another major accident in the North Sea. The consequences could potentially impact on families in many constituencies, including your own.

As Royal Dutch Shell and the Health & Safety Executive would acknowledge, I am an expert on safety matters relating to offshore oil and gas platforms. In 1999, I was appointed by Shell to lead a safety audit on the Brent Bravo platform. The audit revealed a platform management culture that basically gave a higher priority to production than the safety of Shell employees. To our astonishment we discovered that a "Touch F*** All" policy was in place. Worse still, safety records were routinely falsified and repairs bodged.

I personally brought the shocking situation to the attention of senior management including Malcolm Brinded, the then Managing Director of Shell Exploration & Production. I revealed that ESDV leak-off tests were purposely falsified, not once but many times and that Brent Bravo platform management had admitted responsibility for the dangerous practices being followed. In response to my team ringing alarm bells, management pledged to rectify the serious problems which had been uncovered.

When I later complained that the pledges were not being kept, I was removed from my oversight function.

Four years later, a massive gas leak occurred on the platform. Two workers lost their lives. I have no doubt at all that the inaction of the relevant Asset Manager, the General Manager, the Oil Director and Malcolm Brinded, contributed in some part to the unlawful killing of two persons on Brent Bravo in September 2003.

Shell subsequently pleaded guilty to breaches of the HSE regulations and a record-breaking £900,000 fine was imposed. I thought this would bring about a real change in policy to put the emphasis on safety.

Unfortunately I was wrong. Although I supplied the evidence related to 1999, and the fact that there had been a collapse in controls of integrity from 1999 to 2003 on all 16 of Shell's North Sea offshore installations covered in a post fatality integrity review to the HSE for review by the Procurator Fiscal, none of this evidence was presented before the Sheriff at the subsequent Inquiry. The situation is explained in a letter to the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff (on 24th February 2007).

Shell management has engaged in spin to try to pretend that it is getting to grips with its safety problem. However, its atrocious safety record - the worst in the North Sea in terms of accidental deaths and absolute number of enforcement actions – tells a different story. This fact has resulted in a number of newspaper articles.

I have had meetings with senior Shell people including its CEO Mr. Jeroen van der Veer. I regret to say that I have found him to be economical with the truth. He prefers to support cover-up and deceit rather than confronting the underlying problems. Brinded is now Executive Director of Shell Exploration & Production. He believes in burying evidence.

My family and friends would probably prefer me to give up on this matter and enjoy my retirement after so many years working for Shell.

However, by writing to every MP in the UK, no one can ever say that I did not do my best to avert an inevitable further major accident event in the North Sea. When it happens (I pray that I am wrong) I will make this warning communication available to the media together with the vast amount of evidence in my possession.

At least my conscience is clear. I have done everything possible to ring the alarm bells about Shell management and its unscrupulous attitude to the safety of its employees.

Yours sincerely
Bill Campbell

ENDS

(Malcolm Brinded and Jeroen van der Veer are no longer with Shell. The Oil Director referred to in the email is Chris Finlayson, who left Shell to become Chief Executive of British Gas before being fired - his photo immediately below)

SHELL PERSECUTION OF DR JOHN HUONG

SHELL RESERVES FRAUD

SIR PHILIP WATTS, THE GROUP CHAIRMAN OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP, FORCED TO RESIGN IN 2004

Shell’s reputation was destroyed in 2004 after FIVE consecutive cuts to its hydrocarbon reserves covering 55% of its total reserves. US and UK financial regulators imposed $150 million in fines on Shell for securities fraud. Shell was also rocked by class action lawsuits.Sir Philip Watts
and Walter van de Vijver (whose headcut images appear courtesy of The Wall Street Journal) were among the Shell executives forced to resign. More details at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: The Shell reserves scandal brought about
the end of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in its original form as an Anglo-Dutch partnership.
Shell Transport & Trading Co and Royal Dutch Petroleum were unified into a single Dutch owned company - Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Sir Philip turned to religion and is now a very wealthy priest after receiving a payoff/pension package from Shell reportedly worth $18.5 million. Walter van de Vijver in contrast was the victim of a sadistic sacking by his Shell senior management backstabbing colleagues.

by John Donovan

Displayed below are some of the spectacular promotional campaigns my company Don Marketing created for Shell in the 1980s and 1990s. This was before the series of SIX high court actions we brought against Shell for stealing ideas (4) and for defamation (2) - all settled by Shell. This website is a permanent response by me to the malicious underhand tactics, including treachery, espionage and intimidation, used by Shell during and after the bouts of litigation. More information is printed at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.

SHELL CONTROVERSIES

selection of memorable warnings/articles/images associated with the controversial track record of Royal Dutch Shell.

WARNING: DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR IDEAS TO SHELL GameChanger OR SHELL Ideas360 WITHOUT TAKING EVERY POSSIBLE PRECAUTION. Shell management has ample funds to pay for intellectual property but prefers to steal it from small businesses and in our experience, gives its full backing to dishonest managers willing to do its bidding. We have sued Shell repeatedly in the High Court for the theft of our Intellectual Property. It is doubtful if anyone can match our dire experience in dealing with this ruthless unscrupulous serial poacher of other parties ideas. Expect threats, legal machinations and sinister action from Shell and its spooks if you object to having your ideas stolen.

Some years ago extensive documentary evidence was brought to the attention of Malcolm Brinded above, when he was Chairman of Shell UK, proving beyond any doubt that Shell executives had conspired to rig a tender for a major contract. A number of innocent firms were deliberately lured into signing confidentiality agreements and disclosing Intellectual Property to Shell under false pretences, in a carefully contrived plot. The firm which was awarded the contract never took part in the tender. One objective of the Machiavellian plan was to stop/delay IP trade secrets owned by the participants in the tender from being disclosed to Shell's rivals. This was achieved by outright deception, without paying a cent to the firms involved, who wrongly believed they were participating in an honest tender. Instead of sacking the ring leader, AJL - who had a personal relationship with the firm which miraculously won the race in which it never ran - Shell senior directors, including Brinded, gave AJL their full backing. Some of the Shell executives involved, including for example, Tim Hannagan, still hold high positions inside Shell - in his case, Global Brand and Visual Identity Manager. If Shell does not accept that this is a true, provable account of what happened, then it should sue for libel. How on earth is such predatory conduct compatible with Shell's claimed business principles?

NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.

MORE INFORMATION
Shell appeased and collaborated with the Nazis. The oil giant instructed its employees in the Netherlands to complete a form giving particulars about their descent, which for some, amounted to a self-declared death warrant. Shell used slave labor and was a close business partner in Germany of I.G. Farben, the notorious Nazi run chemical giant that also used slave labor and supplied the Zyklon-B gas used during the Holocaust to exterminate millions of people, including children. Shell continued the partnership with the Nazis in the years after the retirement of Sir Henri and even after his death. It was money generated on Shell forecourts around the world, profiteering from cartel oil prices, that funded the Nazi party and saved it from financial collapse. Evidence about Shell's Nazi connections can be found in extracts from "A History of Royal Dutch Shell" Volumes 1 and 2 authored by historians paid by Shell, who had unrestricted access to Shell archives. There are 67 pages in total, so takes some time to download.

Photograph (full size here) shows a Swastika flag flying at the head office of Royal Dutch Petroleum, 30 Carel van Bylandtlaan, The Hague, during the Nazi occupation of the in World War II (From Image Database Hague Municipal)

Sir Henri Deterding, the founder of the Royal Dutch Shell Group - known as "The Most Powerful Man in the World" - who became an ardent Nazi and financial supporter of Hitler and the Nazi party.